Author(s): Rahi Abrar, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (First Author, Presenting Author) Mateo Acosta, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Seismicity due geothermal operations is attributed to multiple mechanisms going on in the crust. These mechanisms give rise to sequences of earthquakes. We study the variation of these earthquake sequences in space, time and magnitude and understand the underlying physics of the process. In order to divide our cumulative earthquake catalog into these sequences driven by different physics, we come up with a new statistical approach based on a Nearest Neighbor Distribution. Finally we validate our observation using physics based models of the Salton Sea Geothermal Field.